Download Mobile ICN Applications for an Event with Large Crowds

Mobile ICN Applications for an Event with Large Crowds
Anders Lindgren
SICS Swedish ICT
Dirk Kutscher
Börje Ohlman, Karl-Åke
Persson, Anders Eriksson
Petteri Pöyhönen,
Janne Tuononen
Ericsson Research
Nokia-Siemens Networks
NEC Laboratories Europe
1.
INTRODUCTION
Large crowds often gather for a limited duration of time due to
a popular event such as a sports event or outdoor festival. When
operators dimension cellular networks, the design is based on regular demands and load on the network during peak hours. There is
however a limit to how much capacity can be allocated to a single
location, and operators do not want to spend more than is typically
needed. Large crowds gathering in small areas for relatively short
periods of time create high loads on the cellular network.
Common for these events is that they gather a large crowd wanting to access data from the network. This creates a higher demand
on the network than what the infrastructure was dimensioned for,
causing deteriorated user experience. As the people in the crowd
are there for the same event, interests that drive their data access
patterns are likely to be similar (e.g., at a football match, most of the
crowd want to view a replay of a goal). Thus, there is great potential
for using the Information-Centric Networking (ICN) paradigm to
improve performance as named data objects (NDOs) can be cached
close to users, but also in the mobile nodes themselves, reducing
the load of the network. Additionally, user-generated content can
be distributed via local peer-to-peer communication to minimize a
mobile node’s outbound bandwidth consumption. The use of ICN
technology will improve user experience by reducing latency and
increase robustness when using weak or overloaded infrastructure.
Furthermore, for operators, it will reduce resource usage and system load and increase efficiency.
In this demo, we show the use of the NetInf [1] ICN architecture in this scenario, with a network consisting of both infrastructure and mobile nodes, and demonstrate that it provides benefits
over traditional IP networks. We show this through some sample
NetInf-enabled applications for Android devices, combined with a
backend NetInf infrastructure. The NetInf software for Android
will be available so that demo session participants can install it on
their own device and test the network themselves.
2.
SYSTEM OVERVIEW
The NetInf architecture was developed jointly within the EU FP7
project SAIL, and the system components in this demo have been
developed in different organizations as part of a distributed effort,
but are all compliant with the NetInf protocol [2]. Figure 1a) shows
a simplified overview of the system and its different components.
This section will explain the different components of that system.
NetInf Protocol Implementation and API for Android
An Android service that provides the NetInf API through a userspace library that allows third-party applications to connect and use
NetInf communication primitives. Applications can publish and get
NDOs over both the infrastructure network and in the local wireless
neighborhood through Bluetooth.
NiProxy Name Resolution Service and Content Store
Copyright is held by the author/owner(s).
ACM X-XXXXX-XX-X/XX/XX.
Origin
Server
Internet
NetInf
Infrastructure
NiProxy
NNRP
NNRP
BS
WiFi
Direct wireless
communication
a)
b)
Figure 1: a) System overview. b) Visual Content Directory
Provides name resolution as well as a content store. Publishers can publish NDOs to NiProxy and either upload the NDO to
NiProxy, or only register the locator of the NDO. Clients use NiProxy
to resolve NetInf names and either get the NDO from NiProxy or
get locators to where the NDO can be retrieved.
NNRP NetInf Router
Modular NetInf enabled router. Performs on-path caching and
forwarding of NDOs according to routing information and configuration. For the purpose of this demo, a static routing setup will be
used, but more complex routing can be used for larger networks.
3.
MOBILE NETINF APPLICATIONS
This section describes the user applications that are available on
the Android devices in the demo to access the NetInf network.
Photo Publish and Visual Content Directory
The application shown in Figure 1b) is specially designed for a
stadium-based event. It allows users to publish locally generated
content (photos) to the NetInf system. Other users can then use the
visual content directory to scan through the recent past and see at
what point in time different nodes (based on their location in the
stadium seating chart) have published some content (e.g., in order
to find photos that were taken from a certain angle at the time a
goal was scored). The NetInf system can then be used to retrieve
and display those images, either from caches in the infrastructure,
or directly from the mobile node over Bluetooth if within range.
Web Browser with Local Sharing
The mobile nodes have a NetInf enabled web browser. When a
web page is requested, the node tries to find it in the NiProxy name
resolution server. If found, it is retrieved from a cache or from a
mobile peer. If it was not found in the NetInf system, it is retrieved
using regular HTTP, and subsequently an NDO is created from the
web page, which is then published in the NetInf system and registered with NiProxy. This allows subsequent requests for the same
web page to be served by NetInf locally, reducing the global bandwidth usage. The web browser contains indicators that show the
user from what type of source a web page is being retrieved.
4.
REFERENCES
[1] D. Kutscher et al. (D.3.2) Content Delivery and Operations.
Deliverable, SAIL 7th FP EU-funded project, May 2012.
[2] D. Kutscher et al. The NetInf protocol. Technical Report
draft-kutscher-icnrg-netinf-proto-00, IRTF, Oct. 2012.